The Community Characteristics and Monthly Variation Patterns of Butterfly Species in Qilian County, Qinghai Province, China

During the period of 2016-2017, the community characteristics and monthly changes of butterflies in five habitats of Qilian County, Qinghai Province were investigated. The five habitats include cultivated land habitat, steppe habitat, alluvial flat habitat, alpine shrub meadow habitat and forest habitat. The results are as follows:the similarity of butterflies in different habitats was different. The similarity index of alluvial flat habitat and forest habitat was the highest (0.516), followed by cultivated land habitat and steppe habitat(0.513), the lowest similarity index was for cultivated land habitat and alpine shrub meadow habitat(0.250), and the similarity index of cultivated land habitat and forest habitat, alpine shrub meadow habitat and forest habitat were also lower, 0.257 and 0.286, respectively. The diversity index, evenness index and richness index of butterflies in alpine shrub meadow habitat, steppe habitat and forest habitat were relatively high, and the diversity index, evenness index and richness index of butterflies in forest habitat were the lowest, and the dominance index from high to low were steppe habitat(0.259), forest habitat(0.246), cultivated land habitat(0.230), alluvial flat habitat(0.213) and alpine shrub meadow habitat(0.129). The diversity index, dominance index and richness index of butterflies had significant differences in some months(P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in the evenness index between the months. The butterfly similarity index, diversity index, dominance index and richness index in different habitats were closely related to the elevation gradient, the vegetation type and the plant composition. The difference between butterflies in different months depended on the phenological phase of the plant and temperature difference.